Armed Services panel questions Hagel over overturned assault verdict

“How is a convening authority’s ability to overturn the
adjudged sexual assault conviction and sentence of a General Court-Martial, as
in the case of Lieutenant Colonel James Wilkerson, United States Air Force,
appropriate and consistent with justice, good order and discipline, and the
Department’s policy of zero tolerance for sexual assault?” the lawmakers wrote
in a letter that included 18 members of the committee.

{mosads}The letter requested that Hagel provide an analysis of the rationale
for a convening authority’s responsibility in military cases, as well as a summary
of all cases since 2008 in which a commander dismissed cases.

Hagel ordered a review of the Aviano assault case this week.

Numerous lawmakers have expressed outrage over the Aviano
case, which comes on the heels of a major Air Force sexual assault scandal last
year at Lackland Air Base. They have called for stripping commanders of the ability
to dismiss cases in the wake of the overturned verdict.

The Senate Armed Services Committee had its first hearing on
military sexual assault since 2004 on Wednesday. Lawmakers pressed
military officials to explain how justice was served with the overturned
verdict.

Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) dropped in on
the subpanel hearing to ask the Pentagon’s acting general counsel his thoughts
on changing the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).

“Given that a service member can now appeal his conviction
to the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals and then — in the case we’re talking
about — to the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, is there
any reason now to allow convening authorities to overturn a court martial
conviction on the basis of legal errors at trial?” Levin asked.

“We are going to look into that very thoroughly with a very
much of an open mind,” acting general counsel Robert Taylor responded.

Taylor later said that it seemed “odd” to be able to reject
the findings of a jury.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who is still an Air Force
lawyer in the Reserves, said Wednesday that changing the UCMJ was “problematic,”
because the military justice system is different from the civilian world.

“We’re talking about a handful of convening authority
actions, given thousands of cases. Please don’t over-indict the system,” Graham
said at the Wednesday hearing.